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Crazy Tiny Bass Cab Arduous Problem

A

albinoguitman

Mar 20, 2014
16
5
Tiffin OH
#1
So, some of you are going to say this guy is an idiot others of you might say that would be cool if it works and some of you might (hopefully) tell me what I did wrong and how to fix my problem.

about 5 months ago I started to get really tired of moving my 4 x 10 cab around so I got this bright idea. What if I could make a much smaller cabinet out of these speakers/subs I have at home. so I put them all together with a few screws and connected the wires red to red and black to black added a 1/4 inch male plug on the end and plugged it into my Bass Head. I tried it out at home. asked my wife what she thought and she said it sounded great. I turned it up to where I normally play through my 4x10 and it still sounded great. so I took it to a practice the next night and my band was like what is that? your not playing through that where is your cab? and then I started playing through it and they were impressed but I was more impressed when I saw how it actually kept up with the band an dispersed my sound better than my 4x10. ok I am getting to my problem sorry for the long story but it is all crucial info. so I decided I didn't want to play a show with such a crap looking thing so I decided I would put all the speakers in one enclosure. and that's where the problem came in. now that I put all the drivers into one enclosure they all vibrate to the point where I'm afraid they might rip the cones. I didn't create the enclosure exactly like the 3 enclosures where so I'm thinking maybe this is a porting/volume of enclosure issue.

Since I am going to get asked I will try to tell you everything I know about the drivers.

Within the cabinet there are 7 drivers

1 - 6.5" 4ohm 200w
4 - 4" 12ohm 150w
2 - 3" 6ohm 40w

the original enclosures were like this

1. 6.5" driver with a round port 4" long
2. 2 4" drivers and 1 3" with rect port 2"x1"x4"
3. Same as 2.

if you need or want more information let me know.

Thanks in advance for any help an I will keep watch for any questions or answers.

Thank you,
 
#6
I did wire everything the same but I didn't divide the new enclosure the way the old one's were. I guess my next step will be to add 2 dividers. I didn't think dividing the enclosure would matter as long as I kept the same overall volume. Thank you for answering my question so quickly. I will let you all know what happens next.
 
#7
You didn't wire all the speakers in parallel, did you (your description of + to + and - to - sounds like it)? This would create a way too low load for your amp and could likely damage it!

Also, home Hi-Fi speakers aren't really suited for musical instrument purposes for a variety of reasons.

Can you show us a pic of the cab? Reading your original description, I'm not really sure what you did. Most likely I'm just stupid, but I would still like to see what you've built.
 
#8
oerk said:
You didn't wire all the speakers in parallel, did you (your description of + to + and - to - sounds like it)? This would create a way too low load for your amp and could likely damage it!

Also, home Hi-Fi speakers aren't really suited for musical instrument purposes for a variety of reasons.

Can you show us a pic of the cab? Reading your original description, I'm not really sure what you did. Most likely I'm just stupid, but I would still like to see what you've built.
Click to expand...

OK. I will post a picture of the box inside and out when i get home. right now i'm at work.

also the GD used Hi-Fi speakers in there wall of sound and it sounded great.

since i can't show you any pics right now i will explain the wiring a little bit.

6.5 is parallel
both 3" are parallel
and the 4" are split into 2 pairs series/parallel
 
#9
Hi Fi speakers generally can't take the transient spikes that MI. Speakers can. Most recorded music is heavily compressed.

As for the Grateful Dead, I've read mixed reviews about their "wall of sound". Even so, I'm sure they used proper cabinets and crossovers.
 
#10
If I'm figuring out the parallel wiring correctly, you're getting a 1.09 ohm load.

To be very blunt, this cabinet is a bad idea, will damage your head and your speakers, will sound very poor, will almost certainly have a lower sensitivity (volume) than your actual cab, will have terrible frequency balance, and will either rattle itself apart or start an electrical fire with any real use.
 
#11
OK either way. My question isn't weather i should be using the speakers i have chosen or weather or not its rough on my head. also I didn't ask if you think it will sound good, when the way it was originally set up did sound great. Like i said before i am going to try adding the partitions to the cabinet and then i will try it out again.
 
#14
albinoguitman said:
OK either way. My question isn't weather i should be using the speakers i have chosen or weather or not its rough on my head. also I didn't ask if you think it will sound good, when the way it was originally set up did sound great. Like i said before i am going to try adding the partitions to the cabinet and then i will try it out again.
Click to expand...

If you are only looking for someone to pat you on you the back and tell you it's a great idea, that's not going to happen either :rollno:
 
#15
Pajama_Bottoms said:
If I'm figuring out the parallel wiring correctly, you're getting a 1.09 ohm load.

To be very blunt, this cabinet is a bad idea, will damage your head and your speakers, will sound very poor, will almost certainly have a lower sensitivity (volume) than your actual cab, will have terrible frequency balance, and will either rattle itself apart or start an electrical fire with any real use.
Click to expand...
How could I wire the speakers to get a better impedance?
 
#19
Here's my suggestion - sell your 4x10 and buy two 2x10 cabs...you can use one or two depending on your needs and they are much easier to move around.

Use them vertically for the best dispersion.

Trying to bodge some hi-fi speakers together with a sub for a live bass rig is not going to work out well...
 

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